Artificial intelligence, if there is such a thing, is not something that I think I am involved in, yet last week I took part in my second event on the subject. The first was when I hosted a session put on by Durham University at Proto in Gateshead and the second was last week at TusPark. This time I was asked to present.
The Application of AI within Fraud: Detection, Protection and Prosecution, part of Barclays AI Frenzy Fraud event was hosted by Sarah Worthy from Barclays Eagle Labs and the North East Fraud Forum, of which I am a member.
My talk was about AI, ethics and cyber, a subject that I thought would be different from the other speakers yet turned out to be in tune with the themes of the evening. First up was the team from Newcastle University who talked about using AI to detect patterns in fraudulent behaviour as well as some of the ethical difficulties of the technology. For example, it seems that it is very difficult to teach a computer the essence of animalness, instead it needs to be taught specifically about elk and kangaroo. I had heard Aad cover some of this at #CyberFest this year and there is so much exciting work going on.
Next up was Alastair from Sunderland University who gave some very real examples of how AI has affected his life as well as the vital role of education in addressing the future of AI and cyber security.
This was followed by Saul from Fair Custodian who talked about a world without privacy concerns. They have developed a platform that allows consumers much greater control over the way that their data is shared with businesses.
Then it was my turn. I wanted to talk about how we need to be careful in developing AI. It has the power to do great good and great harm and it is up to us in the industry to do our utmost to make sure that good prevails. AI relies upon the movement of huge quantities of data and again it is up to us to make sure that what we develop is safe and secure. Hopefully I got my points across.
Although I wasn’t able to stay to hear the last speaker from the Police, the event was excellent and shows the depth and breadth of the work going on in the region, as well as the very close links between AI and my passion for business ethics and cyber security.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 